By Peggy O'Farrell

/ Enquirer staff writer

Grab a spoon, scoop a huge cold, creamy bite of black raspberry chip into your mouth and suddenly, a stabbing pain threatens to split your skull in two.

"If you take a big glob of ice cream and gulp it all down, you're going to the get the headache," says Dr. Vincent Martin, co-director of the Cincinnati Headache Center.

Just eat it a little slower to avoid "brain freeze." (Enquirer file)

Luckily, ice cream headaches - some call the phenomenon "brain freeze," and the technical term is cold stimulus headache - usually only last a minute or less, so there's plenty of time to finish the rest of the ice cream in relative comfort. Expert advice: Eat slower.

And even though we might eat more ice cream in the hot summer months, the headaches can occur any time of year.

Doctors aren't sure why it happens. But for some, touching the top of the mouth with any cold stimulus sometimes triggers the excruciating, but brief, pain.

Some research suggests the same nerve centers involved in migraines are involved in ice cream headaches.

And some studies suggest that people who suffer migraines are more prone to ice cream headaches than the general population, says Dr. Michael Schmerler, a neurologist with Riverhills Healthcare.

Roughly 30 percent of the population report experiencing the headaches, and they're not caused just by ice cream, Schmerler says. Any cold stimulus, including ice water, can trigger the headache in people who are vulnerable..

A 2002 study of middle school students in Ontario found that 27 percent of students who ate half a cup of ice cream in less than five seconds reported ice cream headaches. But only 13 percent of students who were allowed at least 30 seconds to eat their ice cream complained of headaches.

The surest way to avoid an ice cream headache is to avoid ice cream.

Martin and Schmerler know better than to advise that.

They offer two scoops of advice:

First, let the ice cream sit for a minute or two before eating it so it's not as cold when it hits your palate.

And second, take smaller, slower bites.

There is a bright side to the headaches, Schmerler says.

"It reminds me to stay on a diet and not eat too much ice cream."---

E-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com